Over Exposed.....

A week ago I hadn’t hear of location-based social networking sites such as Foursquare, Gowalla, Brightkite and Loopt, so I began a cyber journey to discover what the hype surrounding next years predicted social networking phenomenon was all about!

Location-based social networking sites use technology such as GPS-enabled smartphones to pinpoint a person’s location. Applications such as Foursquare and Gowalla let you post comments about the locations you visit. Foursquare and Gowalla are games; the aim is to ‘check-in’ to as many different places as you can when you’re out. The more places you ‘check-in’ to the more points you earn. You can become the “mayor” (if using Foursquare) or a “Founder” (if using Gowalla) of a venue if you ‘check-in’ to it more times than anyone else. In some places you can collect “badges” based on the number of times you visit. Some venues offer discounts etc on products. There is also a facility to find out where other ‘friends’ have visited and you can post reviews / recommendations about where you have been.

As you can imagine these applications provide a wealth of for opportunity for marketers. Not only do they have the ability track people’s habits, they can also drive business directly to a venue through offering an incentive directly to customers. But their ultimate power for businesses is word of mouth; of course this can be a double-edged sword.

PR companies have already started harnessing the power of location based social networking sites. Ogilvy and Intel used Foursquare as part of a PR campaign to drive traffic and build a buzz for Intel’s offline events at the Consumer Electronics Show.

A branded Foursquare page was created, featuring venues where Intel had events. Users were rewarded for ‘check-in’s’ to key events with branded badges, and a competition to win an Intel-powered computer.

The campaign was a success, Intel was able to track and build relationships with over 400 active users on Foursquare who were also attending CES and drive attendance to various hosted events.

Undoubtedly, location-based social networking sites such as Foursquare have the potential to add value to social media campaigns and are definitely an option I would consider using. Having said that, I would not personally subscribe to a location-based social networking site. The idea of my friends being able to track my whereabouts fills me with dread, let alone the thought of large corporations using the data sold to them from these sites to drive their own commercial agendas. Whatever they claim their interests are never the same as that of users. In addition to this there are a number of safely and security issues associated with recording your every move, in the worst-case scenario you could become the target of a crime. A slightly satirical website called Please Rob Me is worth a read; it highlights some of the potential pitfalls surrounding location-based social media.

So in conclusion, after a week of online adventures with location based social networking sites, I would defiantly recommend using them as part of a social media campaign but not for personal use and herein lies the quandary. How many people would feel the same way I do? Hopefully not too many I want my PR campaign to be as successful as possible! :-)